Description

The monument is the remains of a sub-circular enclosure dating probably to between 1400 BC and AD 400 and an adjacent ring ditch likely to date to between 2500 BC and AD 800. The enclosure and ring ditch lie buried beneath the ploughsoil and are visible as cropmarks captured on oblique aerial photographs. The monument lies about 20m OD, just above a relatively steep slope falling S towards the Keilor Burn and less than 1km from the coast.

The enclosure is defined by a ditch varying from 1m to 2m wide, enclosing a sub-circular area measuring 38m NW-SE by 28m transversely. There is an entrance with clear terminals on the NNW side. A small ring ditch lies about 10m to the E, defined by a ditch less than 1m wide enclosing an area measuring about 6m in diameter. Cropmarks also suggest the presence of several pits within the enclosure and beyond the enclosure ditch to the NNW.

The scheduled area is irregular on plan to include the remains described above and an area around them within which evidence relating to the monument's construction, use and abandonment is expected to survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map. On the W side, the scheduled area extends up to but excludes a stone dyke and a post-and-wire fence. The monument was first scheduled in 1994, but the documentation did not meet modern standards: the present amendment rectifies this.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance because of its potential to make a significant addition to knowledge and understanding of the later prehistoric landscape. The sub-circular enclosure is a good and representative example of its type and its significance is enhanced by its close proximity to several other sub-circular and rectilinear enclosures in the fields around Newbarns and Ironshill. These features are important elements of a rich archaeological landscape of enclosures and unenclosed settlements in the lower Lunan Valley. This landscape forms an important concentration of evidence for social and economic change in later prehistoric and medieval Scotland. Our understanding of the distribution and character of later prehistoric enclosures and settlements would be diminished if this monument was to be lost or damaged.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NO64NE 23. The Angus Sites and Monuments Record reference is NO64NE0023.

References

RCAHMS Aerial Photographs AN3612, AN5498.

McGill, C 2003, 'The excavation of a palisaded enclosure and associated structures at Ironshill East, near Inverkeilor, Angus', Tayside and Fife Archaeol Jour 9, 14-33.

McGill, C 2004, 'Excavations of cropmarks at Newbarns, near Inverkeilor, Angus', Tayside and Fife Archaeol Jour 10, 95-118.

Pollock, D 1985, 'The Lunan Valley Project', Proc Soc Antiq Scot 115, 387.

RCAHMS, 1978, The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. The archaeological sites and monuments of Lunan Valley, Montrose Basin, Angus District, Tayside Region. The archaeological sites and monuments of Scotland series no 4, Edinburgh, 25, no 198.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland